Escape
by booksforbreakfast
Summary: After the war, Hermione Granger left busy London for the quiet solitude of Wizarding Stockholm, hoping to escape her war-torn past and the people that brought back memories of it. Little did she know, her former nemesis Draco Malfoy sought the same. In a chance meeting, the two realize they have more in common than they thought. Dramione. Co-written with AmeliaJane8315
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I am starting a new fanfiction with my friend Amelia (she's not on fanfiction). This is a Harry Potter fanfiction, the ship is Dramione. Next is an AN from Amelia.**

 **Hello! My name is Amelia Jane, I am co-writing this fanfic with booksforbreakfast. The ship is on Dramione. This is my first fan fiction I have ever written. We will be doing each chapter in different perspectives of Draco and Hermione. Hermione is starting, and I will always be writing in her perspective. I hope you guys enjoy it! Please review, tell me how I am doing and how I can improve. Thank you so much! If you have any questions just review and I will respond as soon as I can! Here it is...**

 **Disclaimer: This is going to be the first and last disclaimer so you can just read straight to the story. J.K. Rowling gets everything. All we do is just put different characters she creates with her beautiful mind and put them together in peculiar situations. Mrs. Rowling gets all the money and credit.**

Hermione Granger's hands were shaking, her heart beating fast in her throat. _Brightest witch of my class, influential in the defeat of Voldemort,_ she thought, _and the thing scaring me out of my wits is a bunch of nine-year-olds_. This was her first time back in the wizarding world, teaching a group of young students magic. After the war, Hermione was swamped with press and inquires. She ran from magic for a while, trying to live in the muggle world, but she was uncomfortable there, and moved to wizarding Stockholm, were she reasoned she could be close to magic, but still far enough away from the past. The brown-eyed witch knew as soon as she had settled in that she would be extremely happy there. Hermione had lost touch with Harry over the years, wanting to fix the damage that the war had raged alone. She and Ron had broken it off before she left, he yelling that she was too distant. Needless to say, they didn't talk. Hermione didn't like to think about that though. She loved, however, thinking about her new job. She had a class of twelve eight to nine year olds, and she was required to teach them wrist movements and magic theory until after Christmas when she could teach a few spells. The wizard schooling system was different in Sweden, but it fascinated the teacher nonetheless.

Hermione was sitting down to her desk to plan lessons for the week when she heard a small noise from her classroom door. When she looks up she sees a small boy with a nervous smile on his face.

"Good morning Ms. Granger. My name is Seaton. Sorry I am here so early, but my dad had to go to work. I hope it's okay if I stay till class starts?"

"Of course dear," Hermione said kindly, smiling at the dark-haired boy. "But would you mind helping me with a little something today? Parents brought in supplies for you guys, do you think you could separate them into these buckets here?" She pointed to the many colored buckets that sat on a small table near the front of the class.

"Sure Ms. Granger!" Seaton replied smiling, glad to have something to do. He began the small task. Now, teachers are never supposed to have favorites or so people think, but Hermione knew that he would be her favorite and the rest of the children were not even there yet.

Hermione turned back to her work. After a (seemingly) short moment, a bell broke through her thoughts. That seemed to happen more than she'd like to admit. Hermione constantly thought of the past and how it affected her present and what she could change to make the future brighter.

A crowd of excited year three students come rumbling into her clean room. There were 11- Seaton was still in the corner putting markers into bins, completely ignoring the other children- new minds ready to be filled after the holiday.

Once all her students were seated, Hermione started on the first day rituals.

"Good morning class! My name is Ms. Granger. I will be your teacher this year! I am so excited to have all of you here and I think we will have loads of fun learning and exploring magic. I have a few questions for all of you that I will be answering myself. Could you do that for me?"

A chorus of yes's followed Hermione's well performed script. They did silly games and introductions- ones that helped Hermione learn their names- the entire day, only interrupted by lunch (made by house elves which reminded her to talk to the principal later). The perfect day ended with only a few small problems that ended in a quick 3 minutes, and all the children were packing up and heading towards the courtyard for their parents to pick them up. Hermione stood outside, saying goodbye to students and parents, meeting people, when she saw a small glimmer. Hermione stepped into the shade of a tall tree, looking at a shock of super light blonde hair. _It can't be. No way. The ferret can't be HERE,_ she thought, shaking her head. _My eyes must be playing tricks on me._ Hermione walked inside, trying to convince herself that they are in _Sweden_ for God's sake, and there are tons of blonde people here.

 _But what if it is Malfoy?_ Her mind pestered. Logic tries to win. Malfoy would never be in Sweden. _Ever_. Besides, what did he have to run from? Even if the Death Eaters did lose the war, he had an enormous house and a fortune of billions to go back to. But just thinking about Malfoy made goose pimples pop up on her skin. The torture that she endured in that house. Hermione pulled up her left sleeve, glaring at the word that was carved into her skin. Mudblood. Why were people like Malfoy unmarked from the war? She had seen so much, such horrible things, death, destruction, things that would never leave her dreams.

Hermione packed her papers and plans into her bag, and was just about to leave when she heard a knock at her door.

 **There it is folks! Please review, and check out my other Divergent, Percy Jackson, and Hunger Games fanfictions!**


	2. Chapter 2

Up until that point, Draco had been having a decent day.

His bookstore, A Novel Idea, had been flourishing in Trollkarls Alley- the Swedish equivalent to Diagon Alley; he had joined an adult recreational Quidditch team (in which he dominated- of course), and he would end the day with seeing his favorite- and only- honorary nephew, Seaton.

Seaton was one of the best things in Draco's life. When the Slytherin first moved to Sweden and settled in Trollkarls Alley, he was surprised that his old friend Theodore Nott had done the same. Seaton was Nott's son, and since the single dad was gone a lot, Draco got the pleasure of taking care of Seaton in Theo's absence.

"My teacher is super nice!" Seaton exclaimed when he and Draco walked to the portkey point by the school.

"What's her name?" Draco asked, fondly looking down at the young boy.

"Her name is Ms. Granger." This made Draco stop in his tracks. Seaton looked back at him. "What, Uncle Draco?"

"Seaton, you wait here for a second, okay? I have to check something out real quick." Seaton replied with an okay, and Draco strode back to the school.

On the way he tried to reason with himself. _There are plenty of Grangers, right?_ He thought to himself. _Surely_ she _isn't the only one. Once you go in there and see that it isn't her, you'll be content._

Draco rapped smartly on the door with his knuckles. He could hear the soft footsteps of someone coming, and the door opened. And there she was.

He guessed he knew in his heart that it would be her, and her astonished, "Malfoy?" was proof.

"Granger," he said in a dry voice. "A pleasure to see you again." Draco looked the witch over. Her long brown hair was in a plait, robes rumpled from a long day of teaching, and her wand was held loosely in her right hand. He was pleased to see that she probably wouldn't be using it to hex him anytime soon.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, taking a step back. Then Seaton came running towards them, and stood next to Draco. "Are you his…?"

"No! No. I'm his-"

"Uncle," Seaton said. "Not really, but he's my Daddy's friend, so I call him Uncle!"

"Wow," said Hermione, and she slapped out of the dazed mood she was in. "That's… great."

Seaton pulled Draco's hand. "Can we go home soon? I'm hungry."

"Sure," the wizard said, looking down at his nephew, and back up at Hermione. "Well, goodbye then."

"Bye," Hermione replied, and Draco and Seaton walked away. Then Draco heard hurried footsteps rushing towards him. He turned around to find Hermione shoving a small piece of parchment into his hand with a crooked smile on her face.

"In case you want to owl me." And she was gone.

Draco unfolded the scrap of paper. Granger's scrawl filled the page.

 _It seems as if we have a lot of catching up to do._

 _Gyllenkrooksgatan 3 Stockholm, Sweden_

 _Hermione Granger_

Draco smiled, shoved the paper into his pocket, and continued up the hill.

His day had become great.

###

Later, after Seaton returned home, Draco sat at his desk, in his apartment that was situated above A Novel Idea, trying to write to Hermione. He wanted to meet with her, explain that he wasn't who she thought he was anymore. He had changed.

But still, the parchment stared up at him. So did his owl, Hyperion, who he had called over ten minutes ago thinking that he would have written the note by then.

 _Granger,_ he wrote. _We both have things to explain, so would you meet me at the Coffee Café in Trollkarls Alley at 12:00 on Saturday? Malfoy_

He tied the note to Hyperion's leg, and sent him out the window. The grey eyed wizard settled into his armchair in front of the fire, and opened _Triwizard Tragedies_. He was hardly absorbed in the book, instead listening for the steady flap of wings that signaled Hyperion's return, hopefully with a reply.

A few minutes later, his wish was granted.

 _Malfoy,_

 _I will be there on Saturday, but you might want to disguise yourself. I am the Mudblood, remember. See you there._

 _Granger_

Draco frowned as he read the slur that he had called Hermione for all those years at Hogwarts. He wasn't like that anymore, he wanted her to know he wasn't like that anymore. They had both gone to finish their Seventh year in Hogwarts, and while there, Draco started the long road to changing his ideals. He no longer wanted to be associated with the Malfoy family exemplar. This is why, when nearing the end of the war, he defected to the Order's side, and fought the last few battles with them. The blonde man no longer believed in blood prejudice, and now prided himself on having values different from his family. At heart, he was no longer a Malfoy.

 _Fantastic,_ he wrote. _I'll see you there._

###

Saturday came slowly, much to Draco's vexation. On Saturday morning, he excitedly stocked shelves, waiting for noon to come. It did, quickly, and Draco soon found himself closing up shop, and walking down the street to the café. The nice September air required no coat, and Draco strolled down the bustling marketplace in peace.

The bell above the door chimed as the wizard walked into the quaint Café. He spotted Hermione immediately. The witch was settled at a table in the corner near a window, a full coffee cup next to her as she read a book proclaiming the title, Pride and Prejudice. _Must be a muggle book,_ Draco thought. He went to the counter, got a tea, and wound his way back through the other tables until he approached hers.

Draco cleared his throat, and Hermione looked up, surprised. She put her book away in her bag, and beckoned for him to sit.

"Hi," she said sweetly, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Hello," he replied, doing the same. "Thanks for meeting me."

Hermione laughed. "It's no trouble. I didn't have anything else to do." She winced at her words. "Sorry, that's not what I meant."

"I get it," Draco said. "So, what have you been doing since Hogwarts?"

"Um, I travelled a little," she sighed. "To be honest, I needed a break from the magic and the fame. I actually spent about six months in a Muggle town. I couldn't do it though. Came back."

"Wow," Draco replied, amused.

"I know, Mudblood, going back to the muggle world. I should feel right at home, right?" Hermione raised her eyebrows at Draco. She said the aspersion like saying hello, like it was not horrible stereotype.

The conversation lulled for a minute, a warm breeze blowing between them. "Why do you say that?" Draco asked abruptly. He now hated how even her, a Muggle-born- to whom it should be a horrible insult- uttered the slight without batting an eye.

Hermione cocked her head to the side. "Isn't that what you call me?"

"Used to, and even if you're a Muggle-born, I'm a Death Eater."

"Former."

"What?" Draco said, taking another sip of his drink.

"Former Death Eater." The brown-haired witch smiled. "I'm not blind, Draco." It was the first time in years that she had called him by his first name- the last time being at Hogwarts. "I saw you at Hogwarts, in our last year. You weren't mean or cruel, you hardly talked to anyone, and you never said an insult. But you did talk to me, sometimes," Hermione said, remembering. "I didn't have many friends, only really Luna and Ginny; but you would say hi, sometimes in the halls, like, "Hi Granger". And that one time that we were partnered up in Transfiguration, you weren't mean at all. Why?"

Draco sighed. "I guess… I had a change of heart. I didn't want to be lumped in with my father's image anymore, you know?" Hermione nodded. "I changed my beliefs. After Hogwarts, I needed to get away, so I moved here, started my bookstore, and I… I really like it here."

Hermione gaped. "Wow. But I didn't know you had a bookstore!"

Draco laughed. Of course, Hermione had always had a never ending love of books. "Want to see?"

"Of course," was her excited reply.

The pair walked back to the shop, and Hermione was awed as she walked in.

"This is fantastic," she said, running her hand down the rows of books. "I'll bet you get a lot of costumers."

Draco nodded. "I guess."

"And I just love the name."

"Yeah," he said. "So how's it going with you and the weasel?"

"Oh," she paused. "We broke up. What about you and Astoria?"

"The same."

"I've had a great time today Draco," Hermione said, smiling at him. "Thank you."

"Me too. You're welcome."

They spent the rest of the day inside of that bookstore.

 **And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed. My counterpart is going to be MIA for a few weeks, so don't expect a chapter soon.**

 **I am also a beta now, so you can look at that.**

 **Please review, feed the muse!**


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